Event—Adult Education

Engineering Pop-Ups in the 20th Century: A Hands-On Workshop

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Dive into the world of paper engineering—and get a chance to create your own paper structures—inspired by pop-up books in the Newberry collection.

World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. Call number: Case Wing folio T500.C1 W86 1893

Class Description

Movable structures have been integrated into bound books for centuries, but dimensional, page-activated pop-ups are comparatively recent. And though the complexity of modern-day pop-ups can leave one feeling mystified, the fundamentals of paper engineering are fairly simple. Learn how paper engineering became a regular feature in the novelty publishing world by building a series of paper structures referencing 20th-century examples in the Pop-Up Books Through the Ages exhibition.

Shawn Sheehy has been teaching book arts courses and workshops since 2001. His broadsides and artist book editions have been collected by such prestigious institutions as the Newberry Library, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, Library of Congress, UCLA, and Harvard. Sheehy’s pop-up book Welcome to the Neighborwood was published in 2015, and his pop-up book Beyond the Sixth Extinction was published in October 2018—both through Candlewick, and both winning numerous awards. He holds an MFA in the Book Arts from Columbia College Chicago. Visit him at shawnsheehy.com.

Materials List

No required materials and no first reading assignment.

Cost and Registration

This class is full, but you can still register for the waitlist on Learning Stream.

One session, $95 ($85.50 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Learn about becoming a member.

To register multiple people for this class, please go through the course calendar in Learning Stream, our registration platform. When you select the course and register, you’ll be prompted to add another registrant.

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Event—Exhibition

Pop-Up Books through the Ages

Mar 21–Jul 15, 2023

Pop-up books have a longer history than you might think. For centuries, books with interactive flaps, dials, and other moving parts have captivated readers of all ages. 

Learn More

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